All Forum Posts by: Ryan Perkins

@Diana Damian, @Jeremy Baker, and any other's with experience. Do you have any specific advice for someone considering getting started in the vacation rental business in Hawaii (or just in general)? Has it gone well overall? Are you seeing the occupancy rates and the profits you planned for? What are your pain points? What do you know now that you wish you would have known when you first started? 

I've just recently started researching this idea and I've love to get some feedback from people who are already living this dream of mine.

@Carole G. I hadn't thought of that. Seems like a great strategy. Thanks!
@Andy F. I totally get that the success comes through hard work and I'm more than willing to do that. I also believe in working smarter wherever possible though, so I'm trying to get some strategic ideas that have yielded the best results for other investors. I appreciate your input; you've provided me with some great tips. As far as your follow up questions, my FICO score is in the 'excellent' range and I have a solid credit history as well. However, I do not have much in the way of funds currently. 

@Andy F. I really appreciate your response. What you're saying makes a lot of sense. I know I should be talking to everyone, but do you have any recommendations on the best place to start? If you were to start all over, who would be the first people you'd seek out and talk to? 

Has anyone found any multi-unit properties in the northern Utah area lately?

I'm currently looking for a 2-4 unit around the point of the mountain (Sandy, Draper, South Jordan, Draper, Riverton, Bluffdale, Lehi, American Fork, Etc). It seems as if there is a huge lack of these properties on the market. I know they exist though, so I'm wondering if anyone out there could share some success stories, including how you found the property and the financial details.

Thanks!

@Osvaldo Hernandez Welcome to BP. I'm a new investor currently living in Eagle Mountain, UT. Wishing you well on your investing journey.

@Jeff Rappaport Thanks so much for posting this info!

@William Hochstedler You mentioned that there is a lot of non-MLS activity keeping you busy. Would you mind expounding on that? What market(s) are you active in and what are you finding are your most reliable resources currently?

@Caleb Rigby Glad to hear things went well for your first rehab (especially considering how many horror stories I hear about contractors on the podcast). Please do tag me; I look forward to hearing the whole story. 

I'm looking for some feedback from investors actively doing rehabs/fix and flips in the Northern Utah area. Specifically the Utah County area (Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Orem, Provo), but really anywhere between Logan and Spanish Fork.

What I'd like to know is, where are you having the most success finding your deals? I'm familiar with the generally strategies for finding deals, I'm just curious what's actually working for people in this market.

Also, how are you funding your deals? Your own cash? Private money? Hard money? Other?

As a side note, I'd love to get involved with someone local that's active in this line of work. Right now, I don't have a lot of money but I do have time to spare. If I were to find someone that I connect with and whose strategies/values align with mine, I'd be more than happy to do some evening/weekend work for them in return for the chance to get some hands on experience with this stuff. 

@Caleb Rigby, I'd love to hear how this went. Did you find a contractor that you were happy with? Did the rehab go as expected? I'm just beginning to look into rehabbing in the Utah market and would love to get some stories/tips from people already in the game.

I'm reposting this question because I made the mistake of posting on Thanksgiving day and didn't get many responses... 

My question: Would it be a good strategy to finish my basement using funds from a zero-interest credit card, then refinance/pull out the cash to pay the card off and rent out the property?

The details: I'm looking to turn my current primarily residence (a single family house) into a rental. It's a 3 bedroom 2 bath with a partially finished basement. I'd like to add another bedroom/bathroom and complete the living area in the basement in an effort to increase the overall value as well as the amount I can charge per month. The problem is, I don't have the cash for it. I do howerever have a zero interest credit card. I also have access to high quality flooring at wholesale cost as well as the ability to do most of the work myself.

What I'm thinking may be a good option is to fund this work using the zero-interest credit card, then refinance, pull out the forced equity to pay off the card and then rent out the house.

I purchased the property 7 months ago for $195k. It appraised for $200k. I currently owe $187k. Based on comps, I think I could force the value up to around $220-225k.

I'm a newbie and have never refinanced before so I could really use some advice/feedback. Is this a good idea? Am I going to run into problems with loan to value? What pieces of the puzzle am I missing? Thanks in advance!